Showing posts with label racism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label racism. Show all posts
Two-bit Post Facto Lame Observations on the WBC (or Why I Love the WBC Deptite its Tremendously Obvious Flaws
>> Monday
Aside from those that would be more apt to bring up during the opening round, e.g. the questionable legitimacy of several players' ethnic ties to the teams they represent or the hilariously ethnic names of the native Italian players (Matt's favorite: Giuseppe Mazzanti), here are some of the things I've enjoyed most about the WBC through the first two incarnations of the experiment.
The shittiness of the U.S. roster. This one's been analyzed to death by both WBC detractors and by those who want to take it seriously, but it still bears a mention. Back in '06, I remember thinking, "Who the fuck are Gary Majewski and Brian Schnieder?" And 2009 didn't disappoint anyone browsing the roster for "Who the fuck...?"s. But I think even funnier than the barrel-scrapage for pitchers and catchers was the fact that the starting 1B in USA's elimination game was Mark DeRosa, a guy playing out of position (and arguably out of country, as I assume he has more Italian blood than Kasey Olenberger or Chris Cooper).
The motivation disparity. If you were on the Cuban team, your failure to win the championship drew the ire of your supreme dictator, who basically calls you a disgraceful waste of human existence and who could--I assume--excecute your ass on a whim. If you were on the US team, your failure to win drew the ire of... your dad maybe?
The gaudy / retro / baffling uniforms. I only wish that the U.S. would've taken a cue from their WBC foes and the Washington Nationals' forthcoming alternate cap.
How shamelessly I racially profile baseball players. I don't know what's sadder--the fact that I shoehorned every player's style into some watered-down archetype of "typical Asian / Latino / Mexican player" or the fact that, for me, these archetypes are all still guys who played for the mid-'90s Dodgers. Every time I tried to size up a Mexican pitcher's stuff, it was, "He reminds me a lot of Ismael Valdez." Pathetic.
How shamelessly I racially profile everyone. If it weren't enough for me to shoehorn anonymous foreigndudes into flimsy baseball player archetypes, I managed to pair every nuance of their games with some ignorant or borderline-offensive stereotype of their culture. You can use your imagination to materialize these if you wish, but let's just say they involve samurai swords, salsa dancing, and scenes from A Fistful of Dollars and The Karate Kid.
How much I envy the fans of non-U.S. teams. Anyone who's read this blog for a while knows that I've become pretty jaded when it comes to emotional investment in team allegiances. The last few years, my lone outlet for irrational exhuberance and despair (today: crippling despair) has been Marquette basketball, but when it comes to pro teams, it's hard to find that place without a diehard by my side and/or beer. My mildly tortured emotions during the final week of the AL Central race last year gave me hope that I'm not quite dead inside, but still--for as much as I put the sport on a pedestal, I wish I could feel the same about a baseball team as I do about Marquette basketball or my yet-to-be-conceived child.
Joe Morgan trying to pronounce the names of Korean and Japanese players. It's funny. Have a listen if you can find a good clip before it's vaporized by the DMCA ray gun.
Anyway, feel free to add your own ramblings on the WBC if you're also looking for something benign and sports-related to draw your mind away from a certain basketball game that shall not be mentioned.
>> Wednesday
I used to think I'd never find a media outlet more anti-soccer than us here at YCS (With the possible exception of Jim Rome, the Bill O'Reilly of ESPN).
Then who rides to the rescue? As always, Fox News.
I'm not sure if this segment is meant to be "news" or "infotainment." Yet amazingly, this video from Fox not only makes the YCS staff look incredibly intelligent and witty (like we needed anyone else to be known for that), but also makes even the staunchest soccer-hater on the blog (Nate?) look like the biggest Stella-swilling, scarf-sporting, song-singing, alliteration-amiable soccerphile.
Note how everyone misses the point of the quote from USSF President Sunil Gulati, which more or less says, "Well, it couldn't hurt."
If they're trying to be funny, they fail miserably at every turn.
If they're trying to be serious, there's too many errors to even know where to begin.
If they're trying to be both, well....despite no posts in a week, we still do it better than they do.
In conclusion, fuck you Fox News. From all of us here at YCS. Yes, even YCP's token conservative.
Seriously, What the Hell?
>> Friday
Is it just me, or does the sport of golf either attract or actively recruit the absolute worst public relations people in sports? Seriously, it's all these people can do not to totally shoot themselves in the foot.
First, you have the woman who jokingly said that other PGA golfers should "lynch" Tiger. Hilarious! Now, the LPGA comes up with a ridiculous idea to, as they say in marketing terms, "weed out some of the asians." If you haven't seen this story, a summary can be seen here. The basic jist is that the LPGA decided that it was an American sports league and, as such, should have all of its participants be at least somewhat proficient in English.
This makes perfect sense, of course, because all American sports leagues other than the LPGA are composed entirely of players who, if not American, speak American. And if you don't like America, then you can go on an' git out. Among the professional athletes who would have to "go on 'an git" were all sports leagues to adopt a similar policy:
Yao Ming
Ichrio Suzuki
Emmitt Smith
The New York Mets (excluding David Wright)
Kosuke Fukudome
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Yi Jianlian
All the Europeans on the 2008 Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings
Alex Ovechkin
And so on...
The LPGA, apparently not kidding about the idea, let the idea stay out there for two whole days, presumably before the supervisor of the person who came up with the idea heard about it and was like, "is you fuckin' crazy?" Seriously, did the LPGA or their multitude of corporate sponsors think this was a good idea? Yeah, it's not like this country is overly sensitive to all matters of racial/ethnic impropriety, perceived or actual. This is America, and we won't tolerate discrimination. Instead, we'll engage in a superficial discussion about racial/linguistic/gender/sexual orientation equality until the story blows over in a week or so.
In short, these people have to be seriously fucked in the head to think, "Yeah, we can totally get away with this, no problem. Nobody will mind if we make up asinine restrictions to clear out some of these ethnics. Last I checked, after all, the year is 1951. Huzzah to the future of the LPGA!" [lights olde timey-style cigarette on long black holder, cackles maliciously]
Cedric Benson arrested for boating under the influence
>> Sunday
So wait--black people go boating?
Read more...World Cup Draw Features Political Intrigue Aplenty
A) Where there's the most chance for soccer to bring out the worst in people by becoming a metaphor for their national existence, and
B) Who Team USA is playing, "cuz this is Am-ay-ree-ka"
The answer to the latter is the winner of the Dominica-Barbados first round home-and-home-total-goals series. The Stars and Stripes received a bye to the second round series. Should Dominica advance, it could even mean two home games for the Americans. Dominica's facilities were somewhat lacking during qualification for the 2006 World Cup, and had to play their "home" game for their series against Mexico in San Antonio in front of a pro-Mexico crowd.
Should USA advance (Which is a damn near certainty), then they will enter a group stage semifinal round. Their opponents for this group will likely be Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, and Guatemala. Of the three group stage semifinals, this one is shaping up as the most interesting. For starters, it is the only semifinal stage to have two teams who qualified for the 2006 World Cup (USA, T&T). It also features a politically-charged match in Havana as the US travels to Cuba. Guatemala is also always a tough trip. The top two in the group advance to the Regional Finals in 2009. The US should advance, but it could get dicey along the way.
Elsewhere, the Asian draw features a spicy North Korea-South Korea matchup in Group 3.
Likewise, the European draw seems to be little short on drama.
- Group 5 features regional heavyweights Turkey against minnows Armenia. Turkey perpetrated a genocide against Armenians many years ago and a lot of people haven't let it go. Could get prickly.
- Group 6 not only features England against Croatia (the team that knocked them out of the 2008 European Championships), but also three different former Soviet Republics playing against each other (Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan). Ethnic hatred galore.
- Group 4 features Russia going against former Dubya-Dubya-Two enemies Finland and Germany
- Group 3 features the Czechoslovakia reunion as Czech Rep. and Slovakia meet. Also, fun with tongue-tied announcers as Slovakia faces off against Slovenia.
- Group 8 sees Ireland return to the site of their humiliating defeat to Cyprus. It also sees tiny Montenegro, in their first official competition as a footballing nation, taking on World Champions Italy. Welcome to the party, boys.
- Group 2 is WIDE OPEN. There really is no clear favorite among Israel, Greece, Switzerland, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Moldova. Frankly there shouldn't be.
USA-Cuba, Russia-Germany, Czech Rep.-Slovakia, Turkey-Armenia, Korea Republic-Korea DPR
Top GAMES to look forward to
England-Croatia, Possibly Canada-Mexico, Scotland-Netherlands, Italy-Ireland, England-Ukraine, Russia-Germany. Read more...
MLB Has Cake, Oddly Unable to Eat it too
>> Saturday
Major League Baseball issued a statement saying, "Major League Baseball was not previously aware of the symbolism of the cap design and, of course, is very concerned about the issue."
Come on.
Admittedly I'm a white (borderline translucent) guy from the suburbs, so I don't really have much firsthand experience with gangs and street violence and all the social problems associated with that. But if even this white-bread kid from the 'burbs knew that red bandanas were for Bloods and blue bandanas were for Crips, and that black-and-gold was a Latin Kings color scheme, then wouldn't you think at least ONE person in MLB's marketing department would have figured that out, or at least HEARD of the similarities?
Add to that the fact that MLB seems to be making and marketing "fashion cap" merchandise almost specifically to see what can land in the next rap video on MTV. Frankly, for Major League Baseball to say that they had no idea what those images meant in terms of gang symbolism is either bold-faced and insulting or catastrophically stupid. They really do look like they're trying to exploit the market for rival factions, thugged-out rap, and gang symbolism on one hand, then plead ignorance by saying they were unaware of the connotations.
Beasley faces racist fans....Irony lost on everyone
>> Wednesday
UEFA authorities are stunned, despite the fact that it has also happened time on time again in Europe the last few years, a phenomenon blamed on a wave of immigrants to Europe. Before, most countries were very self-contained and ethnically homogenous. (ie: France was populated by French people, now France is populated with French, North Africans, Muslims, and Blacks from the Caribbean). This has led to a clash of national identities as Europe deals with race issues on a whole new level.
The irony in the Beasley situation is also lost on just about everyone. Beasley's Glasgow, Scotland-based club; Rangers FC, is notorious for its virulent anti-Catholic, anti-Irish supporters. Songs from Rangers fans include the heart-warming lyrics, "We're up to our knees in Fenian blood/Surrender or you'll die!" and "We are the Glasgow Rangers/We don't need your Davie Hay /Fuck the Pope and the IRA," and "We hate Roman Catholics/ we hate nuns too/we hate bishops and priests (They're shit!)/ but the Rangers we love you."
So while racism is a terrible thing and is definitely a stain on European football, I'm having a little hard time getting around the irony of the fact that Rangers whips up its ethnic sectarianism perhaps more than any other club in the world, then bemoans the fact that one of its players is subjected to racist attacks.
Read more...
Welcome to the Fold
>> Monday
If you're familiar with the illustrious staff of YCS, then you're well aware of our affinity towards shady characters in the world of sport. It's true, our appreciation of such unseemly rascals as Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace, Chad Johnson and Randy Moss is well documented.
Gentlemen, it looks like we've got another to add to our manifesto. The above picture is, of course, of University of Florida G/F Corey Brewer. Look at him. If that's not the face of someone who's constantly contemplating doing something unsettling, then I don't know what is.
The guy has the look about him of someone who may stab someone if need be. He's the kinda guy that knows how to go about stealing a dog, should the need arise. And believe you me, he'll kill a snitch. I'm not saying he has, I'm not saying he hasn't. He's just making sure you know that.
Anyway, this post is senseless, so I'll keep it brief. We like shady people who, with a little imagination, could be criminals. We're weird like that.
Read more...
The David Stern Complex
>> Wednesday
There is a cerain high school ref that has clearly been taking lessons from Reggie Miller. His flop almost got OJ Mayo suspended, except a judge overruled the suspension. One one hand, we all know that spectacular high school athletes like Mayo get special treatment. But after watching this video (thanks to Complete Sports), who the hell does the ref think he's fooling?
This, along with the ridiculous Kobe suspension, kind of re-raises an issue that certain people are forcing us to look at every other week.
Now, I don't really know too much about Mayo (perhaps Zuch could help us out here), but I do know Kobe, and it certainly seems like the entire basketball work has come down with a David Stern complex. That is, we say "We need athletes to be good role models and will not put up with 'punks' that want to get in fights and shoot guns." What we really mean, however, is, "We want more white athletes to succeed in basketball, because they're so much easier to deal with than black athletes."
If Steve Nash had smacked Manu Ginobli in the face, would we have even heard about it? Because in the original broadcast, it was seen as nothing more than a good defensive play by Ginobli ("You see the right hand from Bryant coming down and smacking Ginobli. Overtime coming up, after this...").
Yesterday, Tank Johnson referred to his situation as "normal" considering his background, opposed to the expectations of "White America." Of course, people scoffed at the idea that having those kind of weapons in one's home was, by any standards, "normal." Except those people don't understand the standards of certain societies. That type of lifestyle is normal in the background that Tank comes from. Not to excuse Tank, because Kordell Stewart, of all people, made a great point this morning, saying that Tank got himself out of that society and therefore should rise above what is "normal" in the society he was raised in. But the point remains that many of these players are coming out of much rougher situations than the analysts and commissioners that wag their fingers at these players.
All of this is not to excuse the gun-toting, fist-flyin behavior of certain athletes. It is simply to say this:
The world of sports is great for many reasons, but one of those reasons is the ability to give people with no escape, an escape. Many athletes, had they not had (insert sport here), would be dead or in jail today (probably including our beloved Dwyane Wade). I'm talking about basketball especially (which, ironically, is the sport that is most trying to rid themselves of the "thug" image) because you can go into the worst neighborhoods in the country and find a basketball hoop. The players that are good enough at basketball to earn a brighter future are asked to completely change their value system and give up everything that was important to them growing up.
Ideally, every "thug" and "punk" that pull themselves out of those bad neighborhoods and ascend to sports world glory would become Dwyane Wades and be perfect role models. But I don't think anyone realizes how much that is asking of these kids. One more time: I'm not saying these players are innocent, but I'm much more inclined to believe Tank Johnson when he says he doesn't consider himself a bad person.
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